A Mess of Confusions
by waterlily11
Summary: If parallel worlds are impossible to travel to, why does it keep on happening?
1. Phone Calls

The Doctor adjusted his bowtie.

"Come along Ponds!" he cried out. "I'm going to take you this planet where every single thing is red!"

"I think there's a little shop that sells fezzes," he murmured to himself.

"Won't we stick out a bit?" Rory asked from across the control room.

The Doctor looked at Rory. "Mr. Pond," the Doctor said solemnly. "You will always stick out. Do you think every living thing in the universe looks like you?"

"Now where is Amy?" the Doctor questioned. "I need all hands and feet and maybe an elbow for this trip. It gets a little tricky, you see, we have to go into this breach and over the line and then go back down and under to make the spiral that leads us to where we need to be to set our course to the planet." He glanced at Rory who was now staring at the wall.

"Now Rory! Aren't you listening? I need you to pull this lever back and forth while pushing that button there." The Doctor pointed and Rory started working the TARDIS.

Suddenly the phone rang and Amy came running out. She answered the phone and after a few moments hung up.

The Doctor came running over to Amy. "Amy! What did I say? Never pick up that phone! Remember what happened last time?"

Amy put her hands on her hips. "For your information, Doctor, I invited River to come along with us and that was her giving us her coordinates so we can pick her up."

The Doctor sighed and went over to the control panel and started pedaling and typing. Then the door opened and River strode in.

"Oh god. He's not taking you to that blasted red planet, is he? Whatever he's saying about how great it is, he really just wants to pick up another stupid hat," she announced.

"Hello River," the Doctor said with a forced smile. River walked right pass him and started going to the TARDIS and pulling levers and buttons. Suddenly the TARDIS made an exploding noise and the lights all died and everyone was thrown back.

"What just happened?" asked a nonplussed Rory. "It wasn't me, right?"

River looked at her father. "Why would it be your fault? Unless you were fiddling around with that button right there while I was working the TARDIS—"

The Doctor cut her off. "I," he emphasized "asked Rory to do press down that button. I also on the other hand did not ask you to fiddle around with the controls!"

River shrugged. The Doctor rushed over to the controls to where Rory and River were and started beaming his sonic screwdriver at the panel. River started checking inside the paneling.

The phone rang. And continued to ring.

"Will someone pick up that phone!" the Doctor yelled out. "Amy, what are you doing!"

"Well," Amy said. "You told me not to ever pick up that phone. So I'm listening to you, and not picking it up."

The Doctor sighed and walked over to the phone. "No signal," he murmured and pointed his sonic screwdriver at the phone. When that didn't work, he pointed his towards the screen, and a blurry holographic image started appearing.

"Something must have messed up the TARDIS in that explosion," he stated.

He continued to point his screwdriver at the image until a voice came from the blurry image. "Bwwwlffff," the image kept on repeating.

River brought her head out from where she had been peering into the inside of the panels. "Well, it seems that we just have to wait until the TARDIS can get back to normal. I'd say maybe a couple of hours until then."

She headed to the door of the TARDIS and Amy and Rory followed her. She started unlatching the door when she turned around and looked at the Doctor expectantly.

"Well? Aren't you coming?" she asked.

The Doctor wasn't paying attention. He was staring at the hologram in shock. The blurry image was becoming clearer and a person with a shock of blond hair was coming into focus. "Bad Wolf," she was saying again and again. "Bad Wolf."


	2. Retracing Steps

Amy was confused. She usually stared defiantly at confusion until things became clearer but this time she was in shock. She was staring at River, whose mouth was wide open and eyes about to pop out. For as long as Amy had known River, she was never shocked. In fact, she usually rubbed it in to the Doctor often about how she never got surprised.

River was staring at the hologram of the young woman who was defined by her bright blonde hair. Her eyebrows were creasing with a touch of worry.

Rory's eyes were going back and forth between every person in the TARDIS.

"What?" he kept on saying. "What just happened?"

The Doctor was still staring at the holographic image. Suddenly he ran out of the TARDIS.

River continued to stare at the holographic image.

"River?" Amy asked hesitantly. "Is everything okay?"

Rory came over to the girls. "Who is this girl," he asked, pointing to the holographic image, who was still repeating "Bad Wolf."

Amy went up to the image. "You know," Amy said. "She looks a bit familiar."

River kept on staring.

"Oh I know!" Amy cried out. She used to travel with the Doctor! I remember her face from the pictures the TARDIS showed me." Rory looked at her, confusion splattered over his face.

"What?" Rory said, puzzled. "The Doctor used to travel with other people? I just thought that you were the first or something. It might be the way he's so clueless about people."

Amy ignored him. She went back to River, who had now moved so she could lean against a rail.

Amy approached slowly. "River? Who is this girl?"

River gained a bit of her composure. "Oh, you were right!" she said with forced cheeriness. "She used to travel with the Doctor." She took a breath. "That's Rose."

"Then why are you shocked?" Amy asked.

River glanced back at the image of Rose. "This is impossible. She's trapped on a parallel world, a parallel universe that can never be breached by ours."

"Then how did she get stranded there?" Rory asked.

"Long story," River said. "But now we must follow the Doctor. God knows how much trouble he's gotten into already. She took a breath and then pulled Amy and Rory with her out of the TARDIS.

They walked out of the TARDIS onto a sparse cold beach. They didn't have to look far for the Doctor. He was standing alone a bit far off, looking out into the water.

They joined him.

"I never thought I would come here again. But then every time I think that, I always end up here," the Doctor spoke somewhat to the rest, but mostly to himself.

"Again and again. It's like someone thinks it's funny. Oh! Let's keep shoving the Doctor impossibly back in the place he hates the most!" he continued.

He took River's hand and with the other pulled Amy in for a half hug. Rory stood there awkwardly for a moment before Amy pulled him with the rest of the group.

Amy waited for River to take action. But apparently something had turned River into a statue.

"So, Mad man with a box," Amy started out, using her nickname for the Doctor in an attempt to make the mood lighter. "What's the plan?"

The Doctor looked at the sand. His feet were tracing around the old footmarks left in the sand.

Then he suddenly grinned. "Come along Ponds! All of you! We're going to go to London!"

"London?" Amy asked in disbelief. "River said the TARDIS wouldn't be ready until hours!"

"Come on, Pond," the Doctor said. "I'm sure River explained that we're in a parallel universe. We're going to go by motorcycle!"

"Motocycle," Rory said bluntly.

"Well, you see, I do have need for other modes of transport at times, so yes, I do have a motorcycle," the Doctor replied, though he muttered to himself "I might need to make changes to it if we want to make it to London in an hour."

They started for the TARDIS when suddenly they heard its traveling noise.

"Wait," Amy said. "How is that possible? I don't see the TARDIS going anywhere."

The Doctor looked shocked before something struck his face and he turned around. The rest followed suit and were met with astonishment once again.

Another TARDIS was appearing onto the beach.


	3. Watching From Afar

The group watched stunned as they watched the other TARDIS materialize.

Suddenly a tall skinny man in a pinstriped suit came stumbling out and a blonde girl trailed after laughing.

"Seriously! It's been years and you still can't accept the fact that you only have one heart and have to actually worry about your life!" she said in between bursts of laughter.

A wind came in and she clutched her jacket tighter around her. "And can you please just for once land the TARDIS in London on the first try in the future? It always takes you two tries whenever we come back to Earth. We always land in this beach and I hate this place."

The tall skinny man threw out his hands. "Come on! This TARDIS is basically new! It was just this tiny piece of coral before! You remember! It's going to take a few more tries before it gets the hang of traveling!"

"You mean," the girl said trying to keep her face straight. "Until _you_ get the hang of traveling." They burst out laughing. The man picked up the blonde girl and started spinning her around. Suddenly he stopped when he was halfway around.

"River Song?" he said, shocked. Then he noticed the other TARDIS.

"What?" he cried out. He placed the blonde girl back on the ground. "What?" he said again. "What!"


	4. Unspoken Words

Amy expected the Doctor to come forward then, but strangely he kept hidden behind her, as if using her as a shield.

River stood up straighter and walked to the tall skinny man and the girl Amy identified as Rose.

The skinny man took Rose's hand and brought her closer to the group.

"River Song!" the man said with a huge grin. "You look younger!" The group stared.

"Well," the skinny man started. "This has to be the fourth time the parallel worlds have met. The first time the button was pressed too long, the second had Torchwood messing up the laws of the universe and then the most recent one where," He looked at Rose and abruptly continued with "…what is it this time?" He scratched his head. "Whatever it is this time, it's not good," he frowned for a bit before continuing. "We'll get to that point when we get there! This is fantastic! I've always wondered about this day!"

Amy saw that the girl, Rose, was staring at the group in confusion, her eyes searching.

The skinny man was mumbling to himself again, and then he pulled his glasses out of his suit pocket and put them on.

"So where am I?" he continued. He made a face when the group in front gave him blank looks. "Oh not the place! Where's the other me!"

"And who are you?" Amy asked him.

He grinned again. "Hello there! I'm the Doctor!"

Amy stared, her eyes disputing the statement. "No you're not. The Doctor is right here." She pushed the Doctor.

"Oh no, not bow ties! And is that a tweed jacket? If he likes pears, I should be glad I'm not him."

Rose glared at the other Doctor. "Oh. Am I being rude again? Well, I can behave however I want with myself!"

The Doctor self-consciously straightened his bowtie again. Rose hadn't really looked at him since Amy had introduced himself as the Doctor.

Her blonde hair was long again. She had shed off what was left of her youth but the misery and darkness he had last seen in her eyes had gone away.

Yet she kept her eyes trained on the meta-crisis version of the Doctor. The Doctor observed his clone. Oh how he missed that crazy hair and teeth.

But his eyes…there was a light in them that had long gone out of the Doctor himself. Not having to go through what the Doctor had gone through after and having Rose by his side must have not only kept that light going, but enhanced it.

Rose still wouldn't look at him. The Doctor wanted to listen to her voice, he wanted to feel her penetrating stare and hold her hand.

Which he noticed was now porting a ring that glittered, reflecting the light.

"So," the Doctor spoke up for the first time. "You're married." He forced a grin.

River glanced at him strangely. The Doctor realized that maybe starting off with the relationship between Rose and the other Doctor after his long silence was probably not the best idea.

The other Doctor looked at Rose and she smiled, looking down.

After a few more moments of silence, she realized that everyone was waiting for her to speak.

"Um, yes. We got married a bit back. The Doctor, I mean my Doctor, and I didn't really feel that we needed to get married, since we both knew that we already shared a strong bond, but my mum insisted," she rambled.

More silence.

"How did you get another TARDIS?" Amy asked.

"Oy!" the other Doctor said. "You want to take a look! The outside is still the same, but you have to check out what's on the inside!" He whispered something to Rose, his head leaning into hers, and beckoned for the others to join him. Amy and Rory were right in the other Doctor's footsteps, but River went hesitantly, constantly glancing back at the Doctor, who was rooted in his place.

Rose didn't follow the group into the other TARDIS either and finally made eye contact with the Doctor.

"I don't know how Sarah Jane does it," she spoke to him. "How many regenerations of you has she met?"

"Four?" the Doctor replied in the same distant tone she was carrying. "Whatever, it doesn't matter. What do you think?" His voice went sad at the end.

She stepped closer to him and straightened his bowtie. She stepped back.

"I think it's good that you regenerated." The Doctor's face fell. Rose continued. "It makes it so much easier to see you as someone different when you have a different face and attitude."

"And the other Doctor? You still call him the Doctor as well?" he asked.

Rose smiled again. "Well, he refused to go by any other name. And that's who he is."

"You know," the Doctor said. "That particular regeneration was for you. The accent, the looks, the personality. When I regenerated that time, it was all centered on you."

Rose smiled. She smiled so much. He had missed her smile. "I know…he told me."

They drifted awkwardly, the space between them very visible.

"It seems whenever I have to tell you something, I never can do it," the Doctor said.

"Are you going to finish what you couldn't?" Rose said, grinning, though her eyes turned sad.

"I missed my chance," the Doctor said. Suddenly, Rose flung herself into the Doctor's arms.

The Doctor squeezed her back.

Too soon, Rose let go. She tucked some loose strands of hair behind her ear.

"So what do you think?" the Doctor asked again, holding out his arms. She inspected him, exaggerating her facial expressions and movements.

"Neater hair, the bowtie is growing on me, the jacket not so much, your face is sort of square, but I'm really digging the boots," she said in a mocking voice.

She turned confused. "You look faintly familiar. I feel as I've seen you before."

The Doctor blushed. "Well—"

Rose cut him off as she continued "Your eyes. They look so sad. Did this happen in just a few years?"

The Doctor responded with silence.

Rose spoke up again. "How, how much time do we have?" echoing her words from long ago.

"I don't know. A few minutes until the rest of the group rejoins us. A few hours until I have to go. Something happened that brought the TARDIS here to this parallel world and I need to fix it," the Doctor said.

"The Doctor, always saving the universe," Rose said with a grin.

The Doctor cocked his head to the side. "Always with help," he stated.

Rose and the Doctor stared into each other.

And then, for the first time ever, the Doctor loosened his bowtie, leaving the ends hanging around his neck.


End file.
